The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-02-27
MINOR MENTION.

abuse A government bond Is, indeed, sol |
emn obligation for its face but it were |
strained construction to say that it binds the |
government to issue the holder a new bond as
often as he might choose to swallow one That
practice would tend to produce a class of
bloated bondholders and inflated plutocrats not |
desirable in q republic. Besides, bond swallow |
ing is liable to great abuse. Once let it be es-
tablished that a bondholder may swallow his
bond and then demand a new one from the gov
eminent, and the country would soon be full of
walking redemption agencies, state
of things certainly not conducive to
financial security or fixed monetary
policy Besides, from swallowing bonds
and demanding their redemption. it is but one
step to swallowing the proceeds of bonds, and in
a little while bondholders would be presenting
claims against the government for the value of
bonds swallowed in the shape of food and drink.
1t would be carrying the idea Of paternal gov
eminent very far to say that the government
should issue new thousand dollar bond to a
man who had swallowed one of an old issue IN
the form of oysters and champagne. Yet there
is very little difference in principle between
such claim and that Of the man who swallows
his bonds straight. The fact is, the idea Of re-
deeming swallowed bonds is all wrong and the
Comptroller of the Treasury has done we'll in
refusing to sanction it. In view of his decision,
if bondholders persist in swallowing them they
will do it with their eyes open, and if they expect
to recover them they should attach a string.
REV. HENRY WARD BEEcHER said his say
about theaters In a sermon the other night. He
did not, as many clergymen do, speak from tine
standpoint of one without personal experience.
but acknowledged that he had attended such
places of amusement a few times. He had. how
ever, made up his mind that on the whole. he
did not care for this form of entertainment He
is wise enough not to condemn dramatic repre-
sensations utterly, however, but says:
when there are artists capable of lifting up
life into higher sphere than l have seen it be-
FORE and bringing history. az it were, into the
atoms and intend to again. Should it follow from
this that the young men under my charge 60 to
theaters would answer that they must be their
own judges. My impressions that the fourth
rate theaters are to be let alone; the third rate
are to be let alone because they spoil the good
| theaters and will spoil and corrupt the best of
those that attend them; that second rate theaters
are to be let alone, and that frst-class theaters
| are to be visited occasionally"
1t is not always, nor often, that the man who
has ''lived his life" and como to the age when the
enthusiasm of youth is past, and nothing new in
the worlds daily round stirs his jaded sense of
enjoyment, that he can remember. as Mr.
Beecher does, that young men see with different
eyes and pursue pleasure with zest that van
| ishes with advancing years. But, after all, his
impressions" concerning theaters are sound and
sensible. and the theater.struck youth would do
| well to consider them.
HALF dozen distinct styles Of dialect are on
record now as in vogue in limited portion of
| the South. Porte Crayon" long ago familiar
| lied magazine readers with a language which he
| declared was in use among the backwoods
| natives of Virginia It was entirely unlike that
which Craddock and her imitators put into the
| mouths of illiterate Tennesseeans. Joel Chand-
Ter Harris's Georgia crackers are made to use
| still different form of Speech while Richard
Malcolm Johnsons crackers" and ountaneers
| of Virginia and Georgia have yet another dia-
lect All this is somewhat perplexing to the
helpless reader Of current literature who has no
personal familiarity with the territory in ques-
ton. Craddoek may be correct or Harris may
be, or johnson, but not all, certainly, else what
a confusion Of tongues must exist down that
away" There is no internal evidence by which
| the Northern stranger may decide as to the gen.
uineness Of any unfamiliar dialect, and until
some competent authority pronounces upon these,
English as she is spoke in the South will be
| disturbing mystery.
! IT is sometimes said by gentlemen not Alto
| eether temperate in their habits, that the peo-
| pie who do not drink are invariably addicted to
some other form of vice, and reports Of Mrs.
| Wan ~ 1,,~nh
| this assertion. The Presidents wife has re-
ceived unlimited praise for not serving wine to
her lady guests; but what shall be said to the
statement that chewing gum in its most erticing
| shape is mixed with confectionery and placed
before theml If her example in regard to wines
has so much weight, what effect will it have
upon the rising generation where chewing gum
| is concerned2 Are the school girls Of the coun-
try, to say nothing OF the society young women.
to be led into bad habits by the pernicious be-
havior of the lady of the White Housed Will
not somebody demonstrate with her before it is
| too late2
AN aggriaved individual sued the Chicago
Tribune for calling him "a crank" claiming
heavy damages The Tribune demurred, and
the court sustained the demurrer, holding that
the mere use of the word ''crank" was not libel
Gus unless made so by the context Under this
decision one may call another plain, unvar-
nished crank with impunity, but must be care
full not to decorate the term too much. A wise
discretion and the usages of good society will
generally indicate about how far person can
safely 60.
MISS PATRIcE, youngest daughter of Dion
- 81.
Boston audience on Monday night end not
pleasing her fastidious hearers. who feared they
were not getting their moneys worth, was in